NEWSLETTER OF THE TENNESSEE NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY Volume 45, Number 1 March 2021 A Letter from the President Hello, everyone! I am excited about beginning a new year and a new TNPS presidency. While COVID-19 is still casting a shadow over all that we do, there is now hope that sometime later this year we will embrace a new normal. And, although TNPS has experienced significant challenges over the past year with limitations on gathering for field trips, meetings, and our conference, we have been pushed to learn new skills. I suspect that many of us had never attended a Zoom meeting before last year. But new skills open new doors. Starting in March, we will begin a monthly Native Plant Seminars on Zoom. We have many new members and many who are new to Tennessee. It seems logical to share the expertise of our more knowledgeable members and others experienced with native plants with these newcomers. After all, our mission is “Conserving and celebrating native plant communities and their habitats through education”. For those who do not yet know me, my background (and ancestry) has been focused on nature and the environment. I taught middle school and high school sciences (mostly environmental science), and served as Education Director at Environmental Concern – teaching teachers about wetlands, and even writing and publish- ing a curriculum guide for them. While living in Maryland, I joined the Maryland Native Plant Society and served as Chairman of the Coastal Conservation Association of Maryland, a recreational fishing group of about a thousand. When my grandson arrived, I was drawn to Tennessee and brought my website development company with me. My first friendship in Tennessee was Alice Jensen who insisted that I join her on TNPS hikes. I soon became TNPS Webmaster and later Treasurer. Serving as TNPS President will be an exciting challenge. We also have two new members stepping into vacant positions: Mark Smith as Treasurer and Hilary Swaim as Newsletter Editor. They are both capable, knowledgeable individuals. If you meet them out on the trail, please introduce yourselves and welcome them to TNPS. Should you have ideas, questions, or concerns about TNPS, please send me an email at [email protected]. See you on the trails, Karen Ripple Hill TNPS Newsletter Election Results for 2021 This newsletter is a publication of the Our Annual Meeting and election were held on November 12, 2020 via Tennessee Native Plant Society and is Zoom with the following nominees accepted by acclamation for two-year published four times a year, generally in terms: President – Karen Ripple Hill, Treasurer – Wanda Priest, Directors March, June, September, and December. – Larry Pounds, Louise Gregory, and Dennis Horn. Since then, Wanda has The Tennessee Native Plant Society stepped down from the office of Treasurer as her family fights COVID-19. (TNPS) was founded in 1978. Its pur- Another new member, Mark Smith, was appointed Treasurer by Karen and poses are to assist in the exchange of affirmed by the Board. information and encourage fellowship among Tennessee’s bota- nists, both amateur and professional; to After our annual meeting, Dr. Joey Shaw (Professor of Biology, The Univer- promote public education about sity of Tennessee at Chattanooga) gave a presentation on the history of the Tennessee flora and wild plants in newly launched Tennessee-Kentucky Plant Atlas plus a tour of the Atlas. general; to provide, through publica- This project received strong financial support from TNPS. It serves as a tion of a newsletter or journal, a formal useful tool for learning where our native plants can be found, what environ- means of documenting information on Tennessee flora and of informing the ment they prefer, variations within a species, and so much more. The Atlas public about wild plants; and to pro- is the very first link offered on the More Resources page of our website. mote the protection and enhancement Members can also go directly to the Atlas at https://tennessee-kentucky. of Tennessee’s wild plant communities. plantatlas.usf.edu/. Dues for each calendar year are: Regular: $20 Student: Complimentary April 2021 Conference Modified Institution: $50 Life: $250 Our 2021 Conference will be held on Saturday and Sunday, April 10-11 in Dues may be sent to: Red Boiling Springs with headquarters Tennessee Native Plant Society at the Donoho Hotel. P.O. Box 159274 Nashville, TN 37215 There will be no registration or fee for Officers this conference. To reserve a room at Karen Ripple Hill, President the Donoho Hotel, please call them at Allan Trently, Vice-President 615-699-3141 and let them know that Bettina Ault, Secretary you are with TNPS. Mark Smith, Treasurer Due to continued concerns regarding Directors COVID-19, there will be no speakers, Louise Gregory meetings, or gatherings at the 2021 Dennis Horn conference, but field trips will go on as Bart Jones Rue Anemone planned for Saturday and Sunday. Larry Pounds (Thalictrum thalictroides) Michelle Haynes Saturday field trips will be at Taylor Photo by Bart Jones Suzy Askew Hollow and Larkspur Cemetery, alterning morning and afternoon hikes with lunch at Larkspur. On Sunday, the hike can be a self-tour or group hike at Winding Stairs. The TNPS group will likely meet at 10 a.m. central time. Details about each Hilary Swaim, Editor of the three conference-related field trips can be found on the field trip Please send comments, photos, schedule included in the following pages, or as a PDF document on the and material for the TNPS Field Trips page of our website and individually on the Calendar pages. newsletter to [email protected] 3 New: Online Native Plant Seminars The Tennessee Native Plant Society will begin hosting monthly Native Plant Seminars, starting on March 16, 2021. These events will be held via Zoom on the third Tuesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. Central (7:30 p.m. East- ern) and last about one hour. All members and potential members are welcome to join the seminars at no cost. The link to join each seminar will be posted on the Native Plant Seminars page and on the Calendar pages of our website (www.tnps.org). Seminar speakers are drawn from our knowledgeable membership, professionals across the state, and the profes- sors and students studying our Tennessee native plants. A range of topics will be covered that may include plants that are currently blooming, native plants in our yards, current research on native plants, protections for native plants, and so much more. Our Native Plant Seminars will begin with our most illustrious member, Dennis Horn. Dennis was lead author and primary mover of our book, Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley and the Southern Appalachians. He received the 2020 TNPS Conservation Award, joined the TNPS Tennessee Botanist Hall of Fame and has many more accolades. Join us for an hour a month to learn more about our Tennessee native plants. Date Topic Speaker Tuesday, March 16 Spring Wildflowers Across Tennessee Dennis Horn Tuesday, April 20 Plants of the Cumberland Trail Dr. Larry Pounds Tuesday, May 18 Native Plants of the Cedar Glades Milo Pyne Tuesday, June 15 Tennessee Plant Conservation Alliance Cooper Breeden Tuesday, July 20 TBA TBA Tuesday, August 17 Pollination Strategies of Native Orchids Bart Jones Tuesday, September 21 Edible Natives Pandy Upchurch Tuesday, October 19 TBA TBA Tuesday, November 16 Invasive Plants of Tennessee Margie Hunter 4 2021 Hike Schedule Date and Location Details March 27 | Meeman-Shelby State Park Meeting Place: Parking lot at the park Visitor Center 10:00 am Central Time Leave the urban environment behind and explore the wooded ravines of this large state park for spring wildflowers. We will concentrate our Difficulty: Easy to moderate. The horse trail does go down time hiking along the horse trail where we should see all three varieties and back out of ravines and the trail can be muddy after a of Viola sororia: var. sororia (common blue violet), var. albiflorus (white rain. wood violet), and var. priceana (Confederate violet) among other com- mon spring ephemerals. If time allows, we may go to another paved Facilities: At the Visitor Center and at parking area of hik- walking/biking trail that has a large population of the uncommon ing/biking trail. oceanblue phacelia (Phacelia ranunculacea) with its minute light blue bell-shaped flowers that easily can be mistaken for baby blue-eyes. This Lunch: Bring to eat at picnic area in park. trail also has lots of wild blue phlox (Phlox divaricata), prairie trillium (Trillium recurvatum), and spring beauty (Claytonia virginica). Contact/Leader: Bart Jones, Phone/email: 901-485-2745, [email protected] April 3 | Old Stone Fort Park, Coffee County Directions/Meeting Place: From I-24 exit 110, turn south onto TN Hwy 53 toward Manchester. Go about one mile to Bonnaroo is not the first party to be held in Manchester. Some 2000 a tee. Turn right onto US Hwy 41. Go another mile to the years ago, Native Americans held ceremonial events in the 50-acre park entrance on the left. Drive on the main park road to enclosure inside what is now the State Park. The enclosure is bounded the visitor center parking lot. Meeting Place/Time: Park by the Duck River on one side and the Little Duck River on the other, Visitor Center 10:00 am Central Time. as both rivers cut their way down through the Highland Rim to the Central Basin, forming waterfall steps along the way. The far end of the Difficulty: Easy to moderate 2 mile hike. enclosure is bounded by the old river channel, now referred to as “the moat.” We will hike along the “walls” of the enclosure and along the Facilities: At the visitor center Moat Trail to the junction of the rivers.